Abstract
Increased exposure times to various health risk factors and the vulnerability of building users might result in significantly higher prevalence rates of sick building syndrome (SBS) in a hospital setting compared to other indoor environments. The purpose of our study was to assess the association between SBS symptoms and measured environmental parameters at a Slovenian general hospital. A combination of a self-assessment study and field measurements was conducted in order to estimate the health risk factors for SBS symptoms among the users of a Slovenian general hospital. The Chi-square test was used to analyse the association between observed health and environmental parameters. The response rate was 67.5%. A total of 12.0% of healthcare workers at hospital wards reported at least six SBS symptoms, 19.0% reported 2–3 SBS symptoms. At the observed hospital wards, the most deviations were recorded for the level of lighting (83.3%), noise level (73.6%), and room temperature (55.3%). A statistically significant association was found between indoor environmental quality and skin-related SBS symptoms (χ2 = 0.009; p = 0.006). This information will be of great value in defining an integral strategy of environmental health activities aimed at healthier indoor environmental quality in hospitals.
Highlights
Environmental health risk factors and their parameters are defined as stressors which occupants are exposed to in their living and working environments and might potentially have harmful effects on their health, comfort and productivity [1,2,3]
The purpose of our study was to (1) estimate the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms in hospital wards, (2) to study the indoor environmental quality of selected hospital wards and compare them to the legally required and/or recommended values, and (3) to assess the association between SBS symptoms and indoor environmental quality. This information will be of great value in defining an integral strategy of environmental health activities aimed at healthier indoor environmental quality in hospitals
Who have emphasized the issue of exposure to health risk factors in hospitals which could result in a high SBS prevalence
Summary
Environmental health risk factors and their parameters are defined as stressors which occupants are exposed to in their living and working environments and might potentially have harmful effects on their health, comfort and productivity [1,2,3]. On the basis of a comprehensive systematic literature review of 313 scientific articles published between 1974 and 2019 [3], key parameters and their possible interactions within every group of health risk factors were identified and classified into: biological (moulds, bacteria, microbial volatile organic compounds, house dust); chemical (construction and household products, formaldehyde, phthalates, man-made mineral fibres, volatile organic compounds, odours, environmental tobacco smoke, other indoor air pollutants); physical (environmental parameters of thermal comfort, parameters related to building ventilation, noise, vibrations, daylight, electromagnetic fields, ions, ergonomics, universal design); psychosocial (occupational stress, social status, loneliness, helplessness, work organization, communication, supervision); personal (gender, individual characteristics, health status); and other (location, geo-pathogenic zones; building characteristics, ownership, presence of insect, rodents, use of insecticide, disinfection, rat-killing products) [3]. Public Health 2019, 16, 3224; doi:10.3390/ijerph16173224 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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